Performance normally has a few different characteristics to it, such as the performers tone of the voice, physical movement and the ability to lyrics to capture a readers imagination, thus allowing it to float away in performance space - the metaphysical transcendence or temporary mental disposal shift needed to transport the reader into and out of the poem all at the same time.
In “The Bride of the Greek Isle”, before the actual poem begins, we see the art of performance begin. Very simple it states, “Fear! - I’m a Greek, and how should I fear death? A slave, and wherefore should I dread my freedom?” If the poem was being read out loud, the tone of the reader would be very performative, “Fear!” is actually yelled out loud and we start with the apex of the sentence. In this case it appears to be an allusion to marriage and domestically as death and the writer ends with, “I will not live degraded”. The reader is brought forcefully into the poem while also being given, theme and conclusion, all at the same time. The reader is already in the performance through voice and also in the story at the same time because they know the conclusion - “I will not live degraded.”
Physical movement is described throughout the poem. “Come from the woods with the citron-flowers, Come with your lyres for the festal hours, Maids so bright Scio! They came, and the breeze bore their sweet songs o’er the Grecian seas; - They came, and Eudora stood rob’d with her train around.” Obvious to note here is the idea of people coming from a foreign place, in this instance, from the woods, the pastoral and natural world of being. They come holding lyres (harps) and the breeze bore their sweet songs. Physically speaking, if one were on a stage to actually perform this poem, the audience rather than a reader, witnesses the the performer yell at the concept of fear and thus starts this procession across the stage, from world that is feminine to the world that is social and domestic. . . “Fear!”
By line 90 we are “moving again”. “They are moving onward, a bridal movement, Y”e may track their way by the swells of song; Ye may catch thro’ the foliage their white robes’ gleam, Like a swan midst the reeds of a shadowy stream.” Again, as performance, the body moves again in a bridal procession, the actors are in the midst of “swells of songs” and through the foilage you can catch their white robes. The scene is still natural as the woman is leaving her home, she has not left yet as she describes the love that she has both mother and father. All this implies a scene that one observes in what is still nature as they appear like swans “in the midst of the reeds of a shadowy stream”. Here, the body is still in nature, songs are still sung as a natural expression of voice rather than prose or typical language which represents the movement towards domesticality. The performer on the stage thus has movement of body, mouth and is seen moving again from nature to the societal, between her nuclear family and the family she is about to enter, through a swan that is barely visible through the reeds - she moves - where identity is hidden and shown at the same time.
Shadows are cast, a flapping sail can be heard, the waves tremble and there is piercing cry. Performance is nothing else but this. Fires are made, held and fallen as she kindles her funeral pile. Heaved is bow’d and the now the night gather o’er youth and love.
There appears to be a dark shadow cast over this funeral procession and one has to wonder if we are talking about nothing more than death.
As art, this poem does move quickly, as performance, it has to move quickly. It has to bring the reader in swiftly through fear, from the pastoral to the domestic, from nature set a blaze in a funeral procession to a heaven bow’d.
It is as if a sword has moved swiftly through this poem, striking a definitive line between two different worlds.
In “The Bride of the Greek Isle”, before the actual poem begins, we see the art of performance begin. Very simple it states, “Fear! - I’m a Greek, and how should I fear death? A slave, and wherefore should I dread my freedom?” If the poem was being read out loud, the tone of the reader would be very performative, “Fear!” is actually yelled out loud and we start with the apex of the sentence. In this case it appears to be an allusion to marriage and domestically as death and the writer ends with, “I will not live degraded”. The reader is brought forcefully into the poem while also being given, theme and conclusion, all at the same time. The reader is already in the performance through voice and also in the story at the same time because they know the conclusion - “I will not live degraded.”
Physical movement is described throughout the poem. “Come from the woods with the citron-flowers, Come with your lyres for the festal hours, Maids so bright Scio! They came, and the breeze bore their sweet songs o’er the Grecian seas; - They came, and Eudora stood rob’d with her train around.” Obvious to note here is the idea of people coming from a foreign place, in this instance, from the woods, the pastoral and natural world of being. They come holding lyres (harps) and the breeze bore their sweet songs. Physically speaking, if one were on a stage to actually perform this poem, the audience rather than a reader, witnesses the the performer yell at the concept of fear and thus starts this procession across the stage, from world that is feminine to the world that is social and domestic. . . “Fear!”
By line 90 we are “moving again”. “They are moving onward, a bridal movement, Y”e may track their way by the swells of song; Ye may catch thro’ the foliage their white robes’ gleam, Like a swan midst the reeds of a shadowy stream.” Again, as performance, the body moves again in a bridal procession, the actors are in the midst of “swells of songs” and through the foilage you can catch their white robes. The scene is still natural as the woman is leaving her home, she has not left yet as she describes the love that she has both mother and father. All this implies a scene that one observes in what is still nature as they appear like swans “in the midst of the reeds of a shadowy stream”. Here, the body is still in nature, songs are still sung as a natural expression of voice rather than prose or typical language which represents the movement towards domesticality. The performer on the stage thus has movement of body, mouth and is seen moving again from nature to the societal, between her nuclear family and the family she is about to enter, through a swan that is barely visible through the reeds - she moves - where identity is hidden and shown at the same time.
Shadows are cast, a flapping sail can be heard, the waves tremble and there is piercing cry. Performance is nothing else but this. Fires are made, held and fallen as she kindles her funeral pile. Heaved is bow’d and the now the night gather o’er youth and love.
There appears to be a dark shadow cast over this funeral procession and one has to wonder if we are talking about nothing more than death.
As art, this poem does move quickly, as performance, it has to move quickly. It has to bring the reader in swiftly through fear, from the pastoral to the domestic, from nature set a blaze in a funeral procession to a heaven bow’d.
It is as if a sword has moved swiftly through this poem, striking a definitive line between two different worlds.